Thirteen Nights of Klaroween
by bellaroline
Summary: 13 Nights. 13 horror stories. 13 new ways to enjoy Klaroline.
1. I- Hush

**A/N: If you've been following the hype on tumblr, then you know that October the 19th marks the first day of the '13 Nights of Klaroween', where I (bellaroline- tumblr), and Katie (khaleesibetch- tumblr) will be recreating thirteen horror films/shows, as Klaroline stories.**

**This first part is based on an episode of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ entitled Hush. **

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><p><em>Over the hills in the west, mist fell upon the town, capturing everything in its path as it billowed over the asphalt, its ethereal whiteness bringing stillness to the land.<em>

_A silent harbinger, its easily overcome by the mute horrors it paves the way for._

* * *

><p>"Alright class, it's time for a demonstration." Alaric hollered over the din, Caroline wincing as the sound affronted her ears. "Caroline," he called, motioning for her to walk to the front of the class, "lay down."<p>

So she did, noticing each face and living a century in every pair of eyes as she moved towards Alaric's empty wooden desk at the front of the classroom.

"Lay down." He chuckled, moving out of the way as she clamored onto the cold surface.

Craning her head, Caroline tried to read the board, but the letters on it were ones she'd only seen on the sides of monuments.

"Human. Contact," Alaric punctuated to the class, holding his thumb to his index and pointer finger, as if grasping the basis of the concept, "is pivotal." Then to a spot over Caroline's head, he spoke quietly. "Thank you for volunteering."

A face loomed over hers, and she jumped as Klaus smirked down at her.

"This is just for class, sweetheart," he smiled sweetly, leaning closer to her, "but your stuttering heart and I know better."

Far in the back of the class, a pencil thudded to the floor. Walking out of her vision, Caroline heard Alaric yell, "hush!" to the back of the class.

But Klaus was still above her, hovering even closer.

"I'll kiss you and make the sun fall away, sweetheart."

Then he kissed her, ice freezing its way from her lips and down her lungs. She gasped, pulling him into her, not caring anymore that she was in front of her entire history class.

Caroline felt like the air was expanding in her lungs until each atom was engorged, blocking the exit back out of her mouth. Klaus kissed her like frostbite, burning her by the frigidity of who he was.

A dark veil descended over and around her, and suddenly she was alone, the desk beneath her the only thing she could feel.

Climbing to her feet, she surveyed the empty room, the only illumination coming from a light in the hallway. The goldenrod curls of a young girl zipped past, and Caroline listened to the receding clack of heels on linoleum as she walked towards the door.

Stumbling a few steps, Caroline strained to hear any sound whatsoever, until finally the muffled sound of a music box sounded behind the door to the gym. Curious, but unable to figure out what she wanted to know, Caroline pushed open the heavy metal doors.

Under the glow of one solemn light, twirled the handle of an ornate music box while a tiny princess spun.

_"Can't even shout. _  
><em>Can't even cry.<em>  
><em>The Gentlemen are coming by.<em>  
><em>Looking in windows,<em>  
><em>knocking on doors...<em>  
><em>They need to take seven<em>  
><em>and they might take yours..."<em>

Caroline blinked and the music stopped, even as the princess kept twirling.

But the music box was on the floor, a drop of something red splattered across the tiny dancer.

_"Can't call to mom._  
><em>Can't say a word.<em>  
><em>You're gonna die screaming<em>  
><em>but you won't be heard."<em>

Still beating, the girl's heart had taken the place of the music box in her hands. Blood fell in droplets like ice cream, sticky and clumped, splattering to the ground. Her face was contorted in a scream, but not a syllable could be heard.

Pale blue, emaciated hands reached out of the periphery, clawing at Caroline's face, and she jolted awake, terror erupting from her.

The only noise in the room was the sound of her blanket fluttering to the floor.

* * *

><p>Ice butted lightly at the confines of whiskey filled tumblers, but to everyone gathered in the Boarding House, it might as well have been a car colliding into a brick wall.<p>

The entire town was mute, unable to utter a peep: when Caroline woke up from her nightmare and realized her high-pitched shriek hadn't woken Elena, an eerie awareness had settled over the blonde. After fifteen minutes spent rousing and calming her roommate, Caroline thanked the heavens for texting, and quickly assembled the Scooby Gang.

Which was where everyone currently was; motivated but without a clue as to what on earth was going on.

Thankfully, she had the forethought to grab the dry-erase bored off her dorm door, because charades was quickly proven to be a suggestively ineffective means of communication- though their history with Pictionary was less than stellar.

_'Okay,'_ she scribbled onto the board, _'what do we know about what's happening?'_

Holding up a finger for patience, she motioned to Bonnie and the legal pad on the coffee table, pantomiming for the girl to keep a list going.

_'1. No one in Mystic Falls can speak.'_

In the corner, Damon rolled his eyes and turned towards the bar, his daylight ring tinkling against the crystal.

Just then, the front door swung open and in strode the Original Hybrid in all of his I-know-something-you-don't-know-and-I-plan-on-manipulating-you-all-with-said-knowledge smugness, but Caroline could only concentrate on how far away his mouth was from hers.

Quickly, she erased the board and scrawled his name. Underlined. Twice. With a giant question mark.

She didn't need to hear him to know his lips were spelling out his favorite nickname for her.

_Sweetheart._

Their eyes locked briefly, yet Caroline understood that she knew everything he did.

Erasing the board once again, she wrote what she knew.

_'The Gentlemen. They want '7'.'_

Apparently it wasn't much. Quizzical looks demanded more, and as she scrambled for some sort of elaboration, Klaus plucked the board and marker from her hands, and in neat, block letters, wrote one simple word.

_'Hearts.'_

* * *

><p><em>Casket sharp, they hovered a foot off the ground, their blue faces stretched thin over the bony protuberances of their skulls. Smiles were frozen in place, gleaming dully in the mid-road lamplight of the witching hour. <em>

_A ways ahead of the five gentlemen, three humanoid creatures all but ran on all fours, dressed in white shreds of fabric that made them look like a trio of psych patients that pulled their restraints apart and escaped into the night. Despite the muzzles blocking the entirety of their faces, they all zeroed in on one location: the entrance to a small, silent house in the center of town._

_The gentlemen glided forward, beckoning this way and that in exaggerated gestures, each one insisting with their ever-present grins that the others venture down the driveway first. The tallest of the ensemble finally persisted in the lead, and with him he carried an old fashioned physician's bag. __Their pets continued ahead and knocked against the door to the house, and the gentlemen gathered, rubbing their hands together in a slow, yet excited fashion._

_A tall, sleepy-eyed man with short blonde hair and shocking blue eyes answered moments later. When he registered what he was looking at, it was already too late._

_The creatures grabbed his thrashing arms and legs, effectively pinning him to the doorframe. He shrieked and yelled and shook with the intensity of his fear, but doing so without a voice only seemed to widen the smiles of the gentlemen now in front of him._

_In a grandiose maneuver, he opened the dark bag and pulled from it a single item. It fit between his thumb and forefinger easily, the insignificant sliver of metal he wielded before the horrified man, who resumed his struggling at the sight of it._

_Razor sharp, the scalpel was inched closer to the man's body._

_When it met his shirt, a beaded red line followed in its wake._

_Tears ran down the man's cheek as he watched the blade carve into his rib cage. With a flourish, the icy blue hand flicked his wrist once, then twice, and the blonde man stilled. Careful not to stain his cuffs, the gentleman pulled the heart from the man's chest, and passed it on to his comrades._

* * *

><p>Night had long since fallen, and Caroline tried her damnedest to focus on the sights and smells around the high school, and not on the hybrid walking <em>extremely <em>beside her.

After it became blatantly clear that the only way to learn about these 'gentlemen' freaks was to spread up a search the town for their hiding spot, Klaus had been in her space, touching her more than he ever had in the past. Not being able to speak forced him to find other means of communication: a hand ghosting over her thigh… the space where her false ribs ended and he could incite the nerve endings that could weasel their way into her gut and breed wisps of feather light shock that dropped her stomach to the floor.

They had been walking in circles for hours, when Klaus held up a hand for her to stop. Caroline rolled her eyes and crossed her arms impatiently as she waited for the thoughtful look on his face to clear enough so he'd focus on her and 'say' whatever he had to say.

One half step was all it took for him to be the only thing Caroline felt. The silence of the night had been irritating- she had started to long for even the grossest of human sounds- and the sound of Klaus's heart was overwhelming, dizzying her mind with the very essence of him. In seconds, she had its rhythm memorized.

His gaze was heated, and he very deliberately pointed from his lips to hers, where he then drew a sun before he let his hand fall down her neck.

Her dream.

Shaking her head, trying to forget everything about the way he had been so satisfyingly on top of her, Caroline backed away, but Klaus was faster and grabbed her arm, holding her to his chest. With his free hand, he found the spot over her heart, and pressed into her skin, the action sending her stomach thudding at the inside of her chest, wanting to know what a touch so full of devotion felt unbidden.

_'__Mine.'_ He insisted, daring her to break away and deny the way they could be communicating so thoroughly without a single word having been spoken since they melted the day away behind closed eyes.

But their kiss had been the beginning of this silent night, and if coming together was the start, maybe breaking apart was the end.

* * *

><p><em>Six house calls later, the gentlemen stood apart at the entrances to five different driveways, their unmoving faces joyfully watching as their masked minions picked from their selections. There was no deliberation as the awkward creatures loped down one of the drives where a white car branded on the sides with a golden star was parked.<em>

* * *

><p>They lost contact as a single shot echoed, the only sound in the night. Caroline recognized it immediately.<p>

Even Klaus couldn't follow as she flashed away.

She saw them as she rounded the corner onto her street, and any horror she felt before this moment was replaced by a blinding rage that sent her careening into the nearest suit-clad monster. A glass jar fell from his hands, shattering onto the floor.

Instantly, the growl she had been feeling in her throat was deafening in her ears. All five of the gentlemen cringed and covered their ears until the shock of _hearing_ herself cut the sound short.

For five beautifully calm seconds, Caroline let her breathing soothe her. Then she saw the dismembered heart on the floor, and she was back in her dream, seeing the little girl with the missing heart.

So she screamed.

Her throat protested and she felt her vocal cords fray, unable to produce the magnitude of a yell that she was demanding. The monsters began to vibrate and shake, which inspired in Caroline to relive every horrible thing that she'd lived through, spurring on the desire to keep screaming.

Within seconds, all five of the gentlemen stilled and their heads exploded. The creatures accompanying them disappeared in a poof of smoke.

None of that mattered to Caroline, and she was in her house before their floating bodies met the pavement.

"Mom?" She called out, sounding raspy and faint.

Inside the house, it was like they were still spellbound to silence, because her mom did not call back.

When Caroline reached the kitchen, Liz was on the counter, her gun on the floor beside her.

Twisted into something unrecognizable, Caroline's mother's face did not move- but the dark red stain on her uniform did.

"…Mommy?"

Such a stupid girl, always asking the wrong questions, but Caroline couldn't… there was no way the woman before her could be her mom. Liz was supposed to die with a contented smile on her face while she was tucked comfortably in her bed. There was not supposed to be a grotesque image of pure fear and agony etched into her features like she was marble, destined for an eternity the likes of which only statues knew.

Klaus was behind her by now, and Caroline turned on him, shrieking as she attacked him.

"You did this!" She accused, her eyes blacker than the hole in her mother's chest. "Fix it! Fix her!"

Each of her strikes was unblocked, and Klaus let her wail on him for a few minutes before grabbing her arms and trying to contain the super nova her skin now encased.

"You kissed me and made the sun go down! You made all of this happen, Klaus! My- my- my mom-" she gasped, her heart stealing her voice this time, not letting any of her hurt leave and be recognized by anyone other than herself.

Helpless, Klaus shook her by the shoulders, trying to break past the wall now between them. "Caroline-"

"No." Colder than he'd ever been to her, Caroline snapped and shoved away from him. "Make the sun come back up Klaus. Make it come back." Her eyes narrowed and she grit through her fangs, the only thing she would ever want from him: "Leave and never come back."

War clashed in his eyes, just long enough to keep Caroline from going back on her word. Klaus was no fool though, and he felt her become lost to him.

"I will walk away and never come back." He promised, looking away before he stopped allowing her to let grief make her irrational.

The door closed softly behind him, but it was loud enough to fracture Caroline.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Stefan walked into the Forbes' residence. The scent of blood inspired the dullest of aches behind his fangs, but that was not what had him covering his mouth in horror.<p>

On the kitchen floor, Caroline sat with her mother's disfigured face cradled in her lap. The gaping wound in Liz's sternum was disturbing and wrong and everything bad in the world.

"Caroline…" he mouthed, unable to articulate the level of sorrow she must be feeling.

But all she did was rock back and forth, muttering to herself the song her mother used to sing to her as a child.

"_Hush little baby don't say a word…"_

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><p><strong>AN: Installment II will be up tomorrow. See my tumblr (bellaroline) for updates.**


	2. II- The Blair Witch Project

**A/N: We apologize for the delay! A cyber poltergeist disabled our internet connection. Thank you to Nicole (thisisrealitsreal- tumblr) for the amazing graphics. Stop by Katie (khaleesibetch- tumblr) and my (bellaroline) blogs to see any sneak peaks of what's coming tomorrow!**

**Alas, here is the second installment, based on ****The Blair Witch Project.**

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><p>Blinding, even behind closed lids, the sun reigned high in the sky above Caroline. Garbed in a dress that envied the clouds, she lay in a clearing amongst a patch of daisies that held her splayed hair just off the ground, a honey maze of webs catching every ounce of sunlight. The girl was content to lay there and fall asleep, but her name was on the wind, and she sat up, the smell of crushed green life hanging around her like a perfume.<p>

"Hello?" She queried, shivering as a soft breeze came from behind her.

Something told her to turn around, and no amount of sunlight would ever replenish the heat that left her body then.

"Come with me, Caroline." An elderly woman with hair like trees in winter spoke without her lips moving even a fraction.

Her feet did not touch the ground.

But Caroline was frozen, unable to break away from the woman's gaze. It was a layer of ice covering a river, and Caroline was trapped there gasping and struggling to find the surface.

"Okay." the blonde agreed, standing. The floating woman led her down a path, moving farther into the trees than Caroline knew better to go.

* * *

><p>Caroline opened her eyes and the first thing she registered were rapids bubbling white before her. The river. She was at the river.<p>

Parched, suddenly, she moved to dart forward, but her feet were all but stuck to the rocks. Annoyed, and thirsty beyond relief, she glanced down, intent on seeing only the sap runoff from a fallen log.

Positioned around her, were...

A scream flew from her faster than her mind could form the words to describe what she was looking at.

Bodies- or they used to be- stripped naked and arranged like some sort of sun were interlocked, with their heads just centimeters from her feet. None of the men- grown men with muscles and the wherewithal to fight off an attack- had eyes anymore, and large x's had been carved over the sockets. Their mouths were open in soundless screams- but that was okay because Caroline was still shrieking enough for them all- and blood had pooled in the spots where their tongues should have been.

All of that would have been enough to send Caroline over the edge, but it was the way their internal organs were stacked in misshapen pyramids on their thoracic cavities that alarmed her the most.

All of their hands were interwoven, as if _they_ had designed this display themselves and were offering their-

"Caroline!"

Her scream died and she turned her head towards the sound of his voice.

"Klaus!" She sobbed, shaking and scared and unsure how to get out of the circle of bodies and run to him and be okay again.

If he saw the dead people at her feet, he refused to acknowledge them, instead focusing on closing the distance between his arms and her body. He scooped her up like he had done last homecoming after she'd blistered her feet in those outrageously tall heels she just _had _have. Now, her feet were bright red and they smelled like rotting flesh.

"Thank god we found you." He muttered into her forehead, pressing a fevered kiss to her temple. Rearranging her weight in his arms, he pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket and pressed the talk button. "I found her," he regaled, a large smile on his face. Then he looked back, his expression paling as he took in the circle of men, "and... I found the initial search party. The coroner will need to come."

"Search party? Klaus, it's not even night yet. I haven't been gone even half a day!"

Incredulity painted his face as he stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "Sweetheart... you've been missing for five days."

* * *

><p>An hour later, when the police and coroner arrived to the spot by the river where Caroline was found, there were no bodies, just a deep red tint to the rocks.<p>

* * *

><p>Weeks passed, and Caroline hardly left her room.<p>

It was an unsolved mystery that no one was keen on solving. The police told the town and the families of the five men that they were still missing, and that the investigation was ongoing.

At that, Caroline yelled until her voice was raw that she had seen them at her feet! Dead! Dead! Dead!

Everyone denied anything odd about the whole thing, but there were whispers of past occurrences flitting from mouth to ear all around town.

_Blair Witch._

It was stupid, these claims.

_Had a cabin by the old cemetery- used to kill children in the basement. Always one kid who came back, though. Said they were forced to stand in the corner. Couldn't see their friends be killed. Crazy old bat was never found._

Caroline knew why they never found this Blair Witch: she found you.

Still, no one listened to the crazy girl found wandering in the woods because a floating old woman told her to follow her.

Klaus did, though.

She kept him close.

When he was with her, she could sleep and not worry that she'd wake up in a different place and time.

When he was with her, she was afraid she'd wake up and find his guts crushing his chest and her eyes no longer able to look at her and provide the memory of the warmth that had been taken from her.

* * *

><p>On October 21st, Caroline opened her eyes and watched her alarm clock change from one neon green minute to the next.<p>

03:07 AM.

It was a stupid, unimportant time, but to Caroline it was a challenge.

By 03:10 AM she was pulling on a jacket and shoving her feet into the hiking boots her mom had gotten her years ago. They were brand new, with not a scuff on them.

Weeks ago, Caroline had been these boots: hidden away from all the things that taint and ruin.

She didn't feel bad about what she was going to do to them.

* * *

><p>Video camera and camping equipment in tow, Klaus and Caroline stood at the edge of the forest, hesitating.<p>

The sun was just a concept this early in the morning, and not even the birds had decided it was time to start singing about it. No animals could be heard.

Caroline's heart could, though.

This was where she'd been ruined.

"Let's go," she said, her voice hard and unforgiving, "we've got a long day ahead of us."

Klaus walked behind her, watching as the girl who used to walk with her hands out, catching each and every leaf in her path, marched past the Autumn forest with her fists clenched at her sides.

Winter followed in her wake.

* * *

><p>The first night was frustratingly uneventful.<p>

They'd made it to the river where Klaus had found her, and much to both their surprises, Caroline tolerated it like it was nothing. Which to her it was: this wasn't what she was curious about. Her questions lied in bed with the five days she had no memory of. And the darkest of them all was if she'd been a part in making the sun out of bodies.

After a few minutes of staring stupidly at the still red rock- no amount of rainfall had washed away the stains, and Caroline knew that after so many showers of scrubbing her skin raw, that sometimes you had to accept that things had a way of sticking- she swallowed her self-accusations and her and Klaus continued onward.

It was quiet when they made camp.

It was quiet when they packed up and hiked deeper into the woods.

Their map said there was an old cemetery a few miles east, and that's where they were headed.

At some point, they began to realize that there were no bugs around either.

But it was Fall and Klaus took it as good luck.

Caroline tried not to scream.

* * *

><p>Stones were piled everywhere around them.<p>

Variations of the same formation were placed in lines and in circles over the expanse of the small clearing. Klaus recorded it all, and Caroline let him, needing to have this memory, because she was sure she'd been here before, even if she couldn't recall.

In the center of one circle of stone piles- there were five stacks in total- Caroline saw the curled length of a blonde hair.

"We should go." She uttered, finding her tongue thick and immovable.

"Alright," Klaus agreed, watching her closely, "let's find a place to make camp."

As he turned to grab his bag, the end of the videocamera knocked into one of the piles.

Caroline's stomach fell in time with the stones.

"You shouldn't have done that." She hissed, staring at him like he'd plunged a knife in her chest.

He bent down and began rearranging the rocks and pebbles in much the same way they had been stacked. "There," he exclaimed, wiping his hands on his jeans, "we're all good. Let's get going, sweetheart. I still need to make a fire."

The sun was behind the trees when they finally found a good spot to set up their tent, and it was pitch black when the fire finally roared to life.

It was warm and cozy, and with Klaus pressed against her, Caroline fell asleep soundly.

* * *

><p>With a gasp, Caroline sat up. Why was she awake?<p>

The fire was out, but that wouldn't have woken her...

"Klaus," she whispered, shaking him, "Klaus! Wake up!"

Mumbling about needing beauty rest, Klaus nestled further into the sleeping bag they shared. It was unbelievably hot with the two of them so close, in such an enclosed space, but she needed to feel him next to her. Needed to be safe.

That's when she heard it.

Cackling.

Deadly silent, Caroline dug her nails into Klaus's arm. "Klaus. Wake up. Now."

"What is it?" He asked, too loud. Much too loud.

As he sat up, Caroline gripped his other arm, making sure that he'd be connected to her no matter what way he moved.

"Outside." She sounded so small, so far away. "There's someone outside."

Branches crunched and this time the cackling was on the complete opposite side of the tent.

Rage contorted Klaus's face, and he went to stand up. "This is bloody stup-"

Laughter. All around.

To the left. The right.

Behind them.

A shadow near the entrance.

Cackling.

Whispers.

It crescendoed and Caroline covered her ears, yelling for it to stop, but it didn't and even Klaus's arms around her felt like a cage.

* * *

><p>When they walked out of the tent some time later, after it had been silent for hours and the sun was fully risen in the sky, their campsite had been destroyed and all of their bags gone.<p>

The one that held the map.

But Caroline didn't care about the map, because what she couldn't take her eyes off of, was all she needed to see to know that a piece of paper with roads written on it was never going to be able to save them.

Two stone piles.

One for Klaus.

One for her.

* * *

><p>Thoroughly lost and utterly losing it, the couple walked in circles, trying to remember if the shortcut they'd taken the other day was one they could find again.<p>

When they spoke, it was in hushed, monosyllabic phrases. Their hands were joined, but that didn't help.

At night, they forwent the fire.

If they couldn't be seen, they couldn't be found.

* * *

><p>She had just fallen asleep, when it began.<p>

The cackling was louder- closer- and this time she swore she could hear the old woman beckoning for her.

It was like the tent was vibrating with the awful laughter and the command to find the woman.

"KLAUS!" Caroline screamed, shaking him awake. "Run!"

They fumbled with the zipper and when it was open, the cacophony grew even noisier.

He held her hand as they tripped over stones and roots and all of the things that nature could throw at them to slow them down.

The night was a blur, and at one point it was her and Klaus and the sound was just a murmur behind them, then the next it was just Caroline tumbling down a ravine and Klaus was nowhere around her.

When she could open her eyes and breathe without feeling like her body was being stabbed repeatedly, Caroline noticed a small shack around a bend.

She was a cow, and this was where she was herded.

* * *

><p>Opening with a creak, the door fell back and into the house, slamming against the wall. Dust swirled in its wake, and Caroline coughed as she walked in.<p>

Fear was not paralyzing her, but motivating her: what good was standing still and fighting fate? The past had already proven to her that she had no control over her body or where she was.

So yes, she was petrified, but the choice to move or stay put wasn't hers. It hasn't been for a while.

"Klaus?" She called out, taking slow, hesitant steps deeper into the old building.

Nothing but a rocking chair and an old cracker barrel decorated the interior, but Caroline expected as much: this was not where she was supposed to be.

Stairs. She needed to find the stairs to the basement.

In the back corner of the room, she found them, the door hanging open- left open, just for her.

Resolute in her decision to find answers, she realized that she still had the camera in her hand.

This wouldn't be a secret that only she knew any longer.

Flipping it on, she turned the night vision setting on and held the eyepiece up to her face. Bathed in green, the world was now visible in more than just shadowy lumps. The stairs were old and worn as she walked down them, and she almost cried when she felt the firmness of concrete under her feet.

"Klaus?" Did his name even make it out of her mouth as a sound? Her mouth was jittering so hard that her teeth ached deep in her cheeks and her fingers tapped out of control on the plastic of the camera.

That wasn't the only noise.

Ahead of her, the obscured sound of sobbing grew louder.

"Klaus..."

Through the lens, she could see him, standing motionless in the corner, save for the up and down movement of his shoulders as he cried.

So worried had she been about Klaus's life, that she hadn't even thought about her own.

"You came." The old woman's voice scratched out, a sick elation dripping from each syllable.

One kid always survived, Caroline thought, even as the camera fell from her hands. Klaus would go home after this.

The thought didn't make her feel better.

Her tongue was gone before she could scream.


End file.
